I'm going through the bottom of the girls' list right now, and everyone who's baffled by Collins should know that Collyns and Kollyns are two of the dreadful "alternative" spellings I've located for this name.

I am very surprised by names like Brenda, Nancy, Wendy, etc. Very surprised. I may be reaching here, but I know a lot of babies that go straight into the foster care system are given JaneDoe-like names. Do you think that could explain these names?

One name that continues to surprise me is the popularity of Gianna (#73). I have only heard this name used once before, and that was in a book! Other surprises is the continued HIGH popularity of Ashley. Alyssa was a surprise too, I haven't heard this name used since like 1993. But most of the top 100 at least didn't surprise me.

And why didn't the parents of all the Micheals go back and correct their typo? Surely they were all typos...

Well, the Irish form of Michael is spelled Micheal...and pronounced MEE-hawl. I doubt there are that many of them, though. Plus it really should be spelled Micheál. Just thought I'd mention that, though it probably only accounts for a tiny percentage of those little Micheals running around.

Well, the Irish form of Michael is spelled Micheal...and pronounced MEE-hawl. I doubt there are that many of them, though. Plus it really should be spelled Micheál. Just thought I'd mention that, though it probably only accounts for a tiny percentage of those little Micheals running around.